Personal computing devices (e.g. cell phones, PDAs, laptops, gaming devices) provide users with increasing functionality and data storage. Personal computing devices serve as personal organizers, storing documents, photographs, videos and music, and serving as portals to the Internet and electronic mail. As technology advances, computing devices shrink in size and reduce in weight to become even more portable. However, as these devices become smaller and lighter, the space available for the display also reduces in size. Therefore, to provide users with the largest available display area, electronic device manufacturers are reducing the number of mechanical keys available on the computing device. The fewer keys available on the computing devices, the more space there is for larger displays.
As mechanical keys disappear from the face of computing devices, the functions linked to physical keys are being allocated to virtual keys that appear on a touchscreen display. Users can perform the functions that used to belong to the mechanical keys by pressing on the virtual keys that appear on the touchscreen display. However, because virtual keys are not always present on the display and in some instances must be recalled during the operation of an application, the use of virtual keys has drawbacks.